A Brief Analysis of Stereotyping in the Movie Crash

刘颖

1. Introduction

As the globalization trend goes on， increasing attention is attached to cross-culture communication. Therefore， it is necessary for a man in the globalized world to have a good command of cross-culture communication skills. There exist some potential problems in intercultural communication. And stereotyping is one of them.

This paper mainly discusses stereotyping and prejudice. The author will elaborate on stereotyping and prejudice from the following aspects： the definition of stereotyping， the cause of stereotyping， different types of stereotyping， and how to avoid stereotyping.

2.Stereotyping

Stereotyping is a complex form of categorization that mentally organizes your experiences with， and guides your behavior toward， a particular group of people. It becomes a means of organizing your images into fixed and simple categories that you use to represent an entire collection of people （Samovar， Porter， and McDaniel， 2012， p.118）. The first appearance of “stereotype” was in 1850 whose meaning was image perpetuated without change. In 1922， “stereotype” was first used by Walter Lippmann， an American journalist， in his work named Public Opinion （Samovar， Porter， and Stefani， 2012， p.246）.

Stereotyping can be both positive and negative at the same time. In America， positive stereotypes include optimistic， hardworking and generous characteristics， and negative stereotypes include "gun-loving" culture of violence， materialism， over-consumption and extreme capitalism， lack of cultural awareness， racism and racialism， arrogance， and boastfulness， etc.

When defining culture， people tend to categorize the culturally-shared people into a group， which is the process of generalization. Stereotyping is the manifestation of over-generalization which refers to coming to an absolute conclusion from one dimension. In most occasions， stereotypes are the products of segmentary， limited， and misguided perceptions.

There are several ways to classify stereotypes. According to the function， they can be further divided into positive and negative stereotypes. According to the attributes， they can be further divided into autostereotypes， heterostereotypes， normative stereotypes， personal stereotypes， mindless stereotypes， and mindful stereotypes.

In cross-culture communication， ethnocentrism is the main cause of stereotyping. According to Nanda and Warms， ethnocentrism is the notion that ones own culture is superior to any other. It is the idea that other cultures should be measured by the degree to which they live up to our cultural stands （Samovar， Porter， and McDaniel， 2009， p.331）. The antonym of ethnocentrism is ethnorelativism. Ethnorelativism emphasizes the use of out-group members cultural frame of reference in interpreting their behaviors. Being aware of ethnorelativism is the solution to minimize stereotyping.

3.Analysis of Crash

The movie Crash is mainly about the racial discrimination between the white and black in America. Stereotyping is the line that goes through the full movie. The dialogue between two black people at the start is a good example of autostereotyping. One of them complains to the other that the waitresss failure to initiatively provide coffee is the evidence of racial discrimination against them， in spite of the fact that the waitress is actually also black. When he sees a woman holding the arm of her husband because of coldness， he regards it as fear for black people. Finally， they get so angry that they commit the crime of robbery. Because of the past history of being slaved， many black people are psychologically fragile. After the woman gets robbed， she becomes suspicious of every man of color， which is the manifestation of personal stereotyping. There is a vicious circle that terrible experience with black people strengthens fear towards black people， and black people are furious at the fear and therefore commit crimes out of anger. Social stereotyping is hard to remove. That is one of the reasons why discrimination against black people still exists in America since the slavery was abolished in 1865. The movie is composed of several superficially different and irrelevant sceneries， but the life of these characters overlap. Human nature is perfectly analyzed in it. Nobody is perfectly evil， and nobody is perfectly good. Mr. Ryan， the white police who sexually harasses a black woman by using his power， finally saves the life of the woman， which symbols the purification of his soul. Tommy， the partner of Mr. Ryan， hates racists and believes in the equality in human rights. He is one of the few white people who is willing to give a free ride to black people. But when he quarrels with the black man and the black man seems to get something out of his pocket， Tommy believes that the black man wants to kill him with a gun， so he kills the man. This is an example of mindless stereotyping.

4. Conclusion

Most stereotypes are hazardous since it does not allow for individuality. In cross-culture communication， stereotyping is a great threat. As the globalization trend moves on， people are more often get involved in cross-cultural communication. Being aware of the threat of stereotyping， we should try our best to avoid it in cross-cultural communication.

【Reference】

[1]Larry A. Samovar， Richard E. Porter， & Edwin R. McDaniel （2009）. Cross-Cultural Communication. Beijing： Beijing University.

[2]Larry A. Samovar， Richard E. Porter， & Edwin R. McDaniel （2012）. Cross-Cultural Communication. Beijing： Beijing University.

[3]Larry A. Samovar， Richard E. Porter， & Lisa A. Stefani （2012）. Communication Between Cultures. Beijing： Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.